The King Demonstrates His Authority
Real Love and True Authority Go Together
A verse-by-verse explanation of these chapters.
An overview of the principles and applications from these chapters.
Melding these chapters to life.
Tying these chapters to life with God.
Historical, geographical, and grammatical enrichment of the commentary.
Suggested step-by-step group study of these chapters.
Zeroing these chapters in on daily life.
“The capacity to give ones attention to a sufferer is a very rare and difficult thing; it is almost a miracle; it is a miracle. Nearly all those who think they have this capacity do not possess it. Warmth of heart, impulsiveness, pity are not enough.”
Simone Weil
In these two chapters we see Jesus demonstrate his authority. Matthew balances this major theme with the theme of compassion. The three miracles in chapter 8 show Jesus' willingness to become unclean in order to make others clean. His works of healing and forgiveness were signs that God's kingdom was dawning.
Real Love and True Authority Go Together.
I tend to be my own worst enemy. You probably do, too. I remember as a kid getting all caught up in myself. Those terrible, horrible, prepubescent years. I made friends with a couple of seedy characters (for a few weeks before my dad got hold of me). I mean we were tough, at least in our own minds.
One time we crawled up in my tree fort with a pack of cigarettes one of the guys had stolen somewhere. When we ran out of matches, I ran into the house for a new supply. But my mother, with a nose like a bloodhound, smelled that cigarette smoke a block away. I was caught! She told Dad and “suggested” I report to the front steps where my father was reading the newspaper.
I approached Dad sheepishly from the back. But he would not turn around. He just kept reading the paper. I just stood there, slowly falling apart inside. He knew I was there. I knew he knew I was there. But he would not say anything to me. He just let me stand there and “stew in my own juice.” When I was sufficiently undone, my father said simply, “Son, do you mean to tell me that, knowing how strongly and negatively I feel about smoking, you went ahead and did it anyway?” He then turned back to his paper. End of conversation.
It was in those desperate moments that I learned about the power of loving authority. Later, of course, Dad in fuller conversation forgave me for betraying his intentions for me. I knew he loved me. And I also knew he would not bend his standards. That day I learned a lesson for life. Authority and love are two of the most basic elements in the universe. And when they come together in the same person, they are an incredibly powerful combination. I learned that real fathers love enough not to compromise their values.
That is Jesus—love and authority personified. His love is deeper than any other love. His authority is higher than any other authority. And he compromises neither. He loves people. And he insists on upholding his principles of righteousness.
Who does Jesus think he is? That was undoubtedly the question running through the minds of the people who had just overheard the Sermon on the Mount. “Who is this man to speak so authoritatively?” Matthew regarded this as a legitimate question. He answered it in chapters 8-9 when he recounted miracle after miracle to demonstrate the power of the king. Jesus' loving compassion and his uncompromising authority came together in power. These compassionate, authoritative miracles demonstrate the power of the king. Observe Jesus very carefully in chapters 8-9 as he uses his power selectively.
Think about faith. What is faith? A source of great power from within ourselves? That is a concept many Christians have embraced from other religions, or from fleshly pride. But biblical faith is something quite different. In fact, faith is really an expression of powerlessness that invites the true source of power to step in. Many times in chapters 8-9, powerless people demonstrated that the strength to do the miraculous was not in the believer, but it had its source in the One believed. Faith is our invitation to the Lord to do as he wishes, what we by ourselves find impossible. And prayer is the voice of faith. We must ask ourselves whether we truly understand how weak we are.
It is a common misconception that a Christian must “work up” to a certain level of faith in order to experience God's power in his or her life. This is a reversal of true faith. In reality, faith consists of giving up on our own lonely efforts and acknowledging our dependence on God. Throughout Matthew 8-9 we will see the helplessness of the people who received demonstrations of the king's power. Note the frequent use of the words faith or believe (both from the same Greek word pisteuo).
This is not to say that there is nothing for us to do in obedience. In fact, the “faith chapter” (Heb. 11) is packed with expressions of active faith. But faithful obedience is carried out with the knowledge that even that would be impossible without the enabling power of the king.
The King Demonstrates His Authority
MAIN IDEA: Jesus demonstrates that he has absolute authority, exercised with compassion, proving himself to be Messiah.
Springing directly out of his demonstration of authority through his teaching of the Sermon on the Mount (7:28-29), Jesus now proceeded to demonstrate that his authority extended to more than his teaching. In fact, he is the absolute authority, the complete sovereign—in a word, the Almighty. This is the next step in Matthew's methodical presentation of Jesus as the promised Messiah-King. Not only would observers and readers recognize Jesus as exercising the power of God, but, more specifically, they would see his miracles as fulfillment of messianic prophecies such as Isaiah 53:4 (quoted in Matt. 8:17) and Isaiah 35, especially verses 5-6.
Chapters 8-9, together with chapter 10, serve as a unit on the theme of Jesus' authority. In chapters 8-9, the king demonstrates his authority; in chapter 10, the king delegates his authority. The gemstone Matthew chose to place directly in the center of this three-chapter unit was the miracle of Matthew's own conversion.
There is a continuity between the Sermon on the Mount and Matthew 8-9. In chapters 5-7, the people marveled at the authority of Jesus' words (7:28-29); in chapters 9-10, the authority of Jesus' word continues as a key feature (8:3,8,13,16,26-27,32; 9:6,9,29). This reminds us of the power of the Creator, who spoke the universe into being with a word (Gen. 1).
It is important to see also, along with the major theme of authority, an interwoven balancing theme of compassion. Unlike most earthly leaders (the hypocritical Jewish leaders in particular), the king did not exercise his authority for selfish ends, but in compassion to meet the needs of others. Jesus amazed the pharisaical mind. He touched a leper. He honored a Gentile for his faith. He crossed the Sea of Galilee to the unclean tombs in Gentile territory to free two men from demons. He associated with the scum of society. He healed and reassured a woman unclean from her bleeding. He touched a dead body. And he was moved by the vulnerability of the crowds to spiritual predators.
Many times he broke cultural taboos to exercise mercy toward the needy. In this way, he shook up the conventional thinking to reveal the priority of mercy as his mission (9:13, quoting Hos. 6:6). Notice how many times Matthew mentions touch as a part of Jesus' compassionate ministry (e.g., 8:3,15; 9:21,25,29). There is something deeply personal and compassionate in a gentle touch.
One expression of Jesus' compassion and mercy in this chapter is his response to every level of faith. He responded to the great faith of the centurion (8:5-13), as well as to the little faith of the disciples (8:23-27). He even responded to people who were unable to give voice to their faith, such as the demon-possessed men (8:28-34; 9:32-33), or people merely accompanied by those who had faith (the friends of the paralytic, 9:2). Jesus was moved by helplessness of all kinds—physical and spiritual.
In the midst of many accounts of physical healing, notice that spiritual healing was Jesus' highest priority. While our physical needs are important to him, he is even more eager to repair our souls and our relationship with him. In these chapters he used physical miracles to highlight the importance of faith (8:10-12,26; 9:28-29). He made the paralytic walk to make obvious the reality of the greater miracle of forgiveness he had performed (9:1-8).
It is also important to understand the miracles of these chapters in light of the purpose of miracles throughout the Bible. Certainly miracles meet an immediate need, about which God cares very much (a disease, a demon possession, a threatening storm), but throughout the Old and the New Testaments, these immediate needs are always the secondary purpose for the miracle. In virtually every instance, the primary purpose of the miracle was to validate a messenger and his message. The healing was not the message itself.
More specifically, most miracles served to validate the message of those who were actually the writers of Scripture. The biblical “seasons” of great miracle working surround the human authors of God's written Word— Moses, the prophets, and the disciples-apostles. The reason miracles have become so rare since the apostolic age is because God's message has been transmitted in full, and the messengers he used for its transmission have lived and moved on. The miracles recorded in Matthew serve to validate Jesus as the Messiah from God and, therefore, they also validate his claims and his teachings.
In the midst of these two chapters packed with miracles, Matthew inserted three non-miracle paragraphs, each making a spiritual claim endorsed by the surrounding miracles. In 8:18-22, Jesus claimed the right to exclusive loyalty from his followers, that they might give up even their homes and their family obligations to follow him. In 9:9-13 (see also 9:6), he claimed the authority to forgive even the worst of sinners. In 9:14-17, he claimed center stage as Israel's guest of honor. These were audacious claims. Therefore, they were surrounded by validating miracles.
Even in Jesus' day, many paralytics stayed on their beds, many blind remained sightless, and many demons remained unexorcised. Jesus did as many miracles as necessary to validate his identity and his message, that the deeper spiritual need of mankind might be addressed—that we might believe and be restored to our Maker. But nowhere did he heal entire villages.
Now, turning our focus to the beneficiaries of Jesus' miracles, we see marked contrasts. The first two examples provide perhaps the greatest contrast of all. From a worldly viewpoint, how much farther apart can two people get than a despised leper and a mighty Roman centurion? We also see Gentile (the centurion, who displayed great faith) versus Jews (Jesus' disciples, who showed little faith), and the official (ruler) of 9:18. The one theme throughout chapters 8-9 is that all these people were helpless to address their own need. All of them needed someone outside themselves to help them. Our helplessness, whether recognized or not, is the great equalizer before God. Jesus loves helpless people.
Notice the frequent use of faith and believe. Faith is the mature attitude that recognizes our helplessness and seeks help from God. We see in chapters 8-9 many positive models of faith, but we also see two departures from it. First, the disciples in the storm (8:23-27) realized their helplessness, but they did not understand that Jesus was to be the object of their faith. Helplessness with no object for faith is despair. Second, the Pharisees (9:3,11,34) were oblivious to their helplessness, so they saw no need for faith.
Another theme of these chapters is Jesus' emphasis on the training of his disciples. Even when the disciples are not mentioned, we may picture them standing to the side, observing and learning. Jesus capitalized on their experiences in these chapters when he resumed his training of the disciples in chapter 10. As Matthew's Gospel progresses, Jesus increasingly directs his focus to his inner circle. Even as he deals with the crowds and with his enemies, the disciples are involved and learning.
The King's Authority over Illness (8:1-17)SUPPORTING IDEA: Jesus exercises authority and compassion to heal physical diseases.
8:1. This was the mountain Jesus climbed to teach the Sermon on the Mount, and these were the large crowds that followed him in 4:23-25 because of his teaching and healing ministry. Now they had all the more reason to follow him, because of the authority he demonstrated through his teaching in chapters 5-7. Before such an audience Jesus continued to reveal his authority.
8:2. The mention of the word leprosy made the first-century reader gasp. Leprosy was the AIDS of the ancient world. Everyone was terrified of this disease. Anyone who came in contact with a leper was ritually unclean (Lev. 13-14) and at risk of his or her life. Lepers were outcasts. They were to stay far away from healthy people and were obligated to warn anyone who might come near (Lev. 13:45-46). This man's willingness to approach Jesus and violate acceptable practice was an expression of his faith. His confident words— not necessarily confidence in Jesus' willingness, but primarily in his ability— further emphasize the man's faith.
Lord was used as a title of respect, like “sir.” The leper was conveying respect to Jesus.
8:3. Jesus' willingness to touch the leper was an expression of his compassion. Matthew went to great lengths to emphasize Jesus' action. Instead of recording “Jesus touched him,” Matthew used an expanded version: Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. Jesus' touch was purposeful. He extended himself for the benefit of this man in need.
When touching an unclean leper, Jesus would normally have become ceremonially defiled himself (Lev. 13-14). Of course, at Jesus' touch nothing can be defiled. Jesus not only remained clean; he made the unclean clean! Touch in Jesus' ministry is important throughout Matthew—especially in these chapters (8:15; 9:20,25,29). And, of course, the man's restoration was a testimony to the power and authority of Jesus the Messiah-King.
8:4. Periodically throughout the Gospels, we see Jesus warning people not to spread the word about a miracle they have witnessed (9:30; 12:16; 16:20; 17:9). Primarily, this was to keep Jesus' public notoriety within bounds until the time was right for his public conflict with the Jewish leaders. He did not intend to hide from the crowds, but his focus was on the training of his disciples. He needed to guard enough time before his arrest and death to see them through to the necessary level of maturity.
In this verse, Jesus' warning to the man also serves to underscore the urgency of going directly to the priest. According to Leviticus 13-14, there was a strict procedure for people with skin diseases. It involved periodic inspection by the priests and offering of sacrifice to restore the healed person's ritual cleanness before God. But beyond this, Jesus wanted the man to go to the priests at the temple as a testimony to them. This man's miraculous recovery from leprosy was to be an indication to the religious leaders that “Messiah-King is here!”
8:5-6. Jesus established his base of operations in Capernaum in 4:13. As with the leper, the mention of a Gentile centurion was meant to challenge the social taboos of the Jews. Certainly, the centurion was aware of the Jews' repulsion toward him. But desperate, he approached Jesus.
Centurions commanded a unit known as a century, but as is often the case in active military units today, the actual numbers were somewhat lower—sixty to eighty men. Centurions were the backbone of the Roman legions. Every biblical reference to a centurion casts them in a positive light.
In ancient times, many servants became as close as family members to their masters. This centurion displayed great love for his servant in his request. Notice the intensity with which he begged Jesus for healing. He also displayed a sense of helplessness through his appeal. He knew that he was inadequate to address his need, and he had need of help from someone else.
8:7. Jesus' simple response packs a world of meaning. To offer to enter a Gentile's home was unthinkable for a Jew—especially for a respected Jewish teacher (Acts 10:27-29). Israel never seemed to understand that as God's chosen people, they were to be a medium of ministry to all nations of earth (Gen. 12:3; Deut. 4:6-8; Ps. 67; Isa. 42:6-7; 49:6). Israel took the Lord's prohibitions against any fraternization that might lead Israel into idolatry, and they applied it wholesale to any contact with Gentiles. They also held to an elitist attitude, because they were the people to whom God had revealed the law (Rom. 2:17-29). They should have realized that he was revealing the law (his heart) not to them, but also through them to the world.
8:8-9. The centurion was aware of the Jewish taboo against visiting Gentile homes. In response to Jesus' offer, he explained that he understood the concept of true authority. Whereas he commanded men, and the men obeyed (Roman soldiers were known for exacting discipline and prompt obedience), he recognized that Jesus could command anything in creation, and it would obey. Say the word, he told Jesus (see discussion of the power of Jesus' word at 8:27). He probably did not understand the full identity of Jesus, but he recognized God's power working through him.
8:10-12. Jesus was not above surprise. He had been looking for genuine faith throughout his ministry, and here he found it, of all places, in the heart of a Gentile! He was astonished. Jesus turned to the crowd, elevating this man as a model for them all, and challenged those who should know better to believe as this heathen man believed. He pointed to the coming day of the kingdom's full realization when many Gentiles would be gathered from east and west to take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The coming kingdom is often portrayed in terms of a feast, particularly a wedding feast (Isa. 25:6; Matt. 22:1-14; Rev. 19:7-10).
The phrase subjects of the kingdom in 8:12 refers to the Jews, who had been given all the covenants and promises, and who should have known how to be heirs of the kingdom. This statement shocked Jesus' Jewish audience. The idea that Gentiles would even be in the coming kingdom, let alone take their place, was unimaginable to the average Jew. Peter (as well as others of the disciples) would not fully appreciate Jesus' words until much later (Acts 10). They had adopted the prejudice and exclusiveness of Israel.
8:13. Jesus turned back to the centurion and assured him that his request had been honored, connecting the answer with the centurion's faith—as you believed it would. It was not the faith alone that healed the servant, but the fact that the centurion's faith was placed in a worthy object—the Messiah-King. Matthew then recorded that the servant was healed at the very moment Jesus proclaimed him healed.
8:14-15. After telling the stories of an unnamed leper and an anonymous centurion, Matthew included a brief account regarding a family member of one of Jesus' own inner circle. At the time of Matthew's writing, critics might have been able to dismiss the former two stories. But the naming of a specific person to whom living eyewitnesses were more likely to attest would silence many of Jesus' critics.
Again Jesus ministered through touch (8:3; 9:20,25,29). Religious leaders seldom touched a woman at all. They wanted to avoid any possibility of becoming “unclean” because of her monthly menstrual cycle (Lev. 15:19). Peter's mother-in-law, previously immobilized by fever, recovered so miraculously that she had strength to prepare a meal for Jesus.
8:16. Long into the night Jesus ministered to everyone who came. There was not a demon too powerful to remove with a word, and no illness was too great for him to heal. The Messiah-King was the sovereign authority over all creation, and he extended himself sacrificially in compassion to the desperate masses.
8:17. To seal his case even tighter, Matthew chose the context of this summary statement about Jesus' day of healing to show that Jesus fulfilled the messianic prophecy of Isaiah 53:4. And since he was to fulfill it before the atonement on Calvary, we have no basis for claiming special acts of “healing in the atonement” today Later Matthew demonstrated that Jesus' fulfillment of this prophecy went far beyond the healing of the body to the healing of the sinful soul. But some may have recognized the connection between the physical healings and the promised spiritual healing (Isa. 33:24; 53:5-6; Hos. 14:4; Matt. 1:21).
The Cost of Following the King (8:18-22)SUPPORTING IDEA: As Messiah-King, Jesus claims the right to undivided loyalty.
Jesus was about to make some lofty claims on the lives and loyalties of those who would follow him. These claims were placed in the context of his miracles to validate his right to make them.
8:18. Jesus felt it was time to get away from the crowd. As long as he was being mobbed, he could not give his disciples the attention they needed. His orders to cross the lake (the Sea of Galilee) narrowed the number who could accompany him to a committed few.
8:19. One person who wanted to follow Jesus was a teacher of the law. We have already seen these Jewish experts in the Old Testament Scriptures mentioned three times (2:4; 5:20; 7:29), twice in a negative light. They will be mentioned several times again, almost always lumped together with the Pharisees as part of the hypocritical Jewish leadership opposing Jesus.
Of all people, these experts of the Scriptures should have been the first to recognize the Messiah-King, but their pride and exclusivism blinded most of them. Here we meet an exception. His commitment was similar to that of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus (John 3:1-21; 7:50-52; 19:38-42). The scribe's use of the title Teacher for Jesus probably demonstrated the man's submission to Jesus' authority, especially in the area of his expertise.
8:20. Jesus warned the man that following him would not be easy and might involve a life of deprivation and poverty. Jesus had recently taught that his Father would care for people better than he did for the birds and the flowers (6:25-34). Now he taught that those who follow him will have even less than the animals—no place to call home. While food and clothing are physical necessities for human survival, an established home is not. However, part of human emotional make-up is a strong drive for the security of a home. Jesus' demand for his followers was not impossible, but it was lofty enough that only the most committed would accept it. We are not told whether the teacher of the law followed Jesus.
This is the first of twenty-nine times that Matthew mentions the title Son of Man. Jesus used this messianic title more than eighty times to refer to himself. From clues solely within Matthew, such as the heavy use of the title in connection with Jesus' role as judge in the end times, we can discern that it connotes the identity and power of deity. This is in keeping with the meaning that most educated Jewish listeners and readers would give the title, knowing of its use of the glorified Messiah in Daniel 7:13-14. However, the wording itself (Son of Man) emphasizes Jesus' identification with humanity. By its use, Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah-King, but he also postponed confrontation with the Jewish leaders because of the human connotations of the title.
8:21-22. In this ancient culture, one of an eldest son's responsibilities was taking care of his father's final arrangements. It is likely this son's father had not yet died, and he was simply stalling indefinitely by appealing to family responsibilities. This was a typical stalling tactic, not unlike that for which Jesus chided the Pharisees in Mark 7:11. But whatever the cultural expectations, the point is clear—Jesus expects of his kingdom servants unqualified submission to his lordship. Commitment to Jesus is to be without reservation.
The King's Authority over Nature (8:23-27)SUPPORTING IDEA: Jesus exercises authority over nature, even in response to unbelief.
8:23-24. Having filtered the curious and uncommitted from among his disciples by clarifying the price they would pay (8:18-22), Jesus and his disciples got into the boat he had ordered in 8:22. Matthew highlighted the leadership of Jesus by his language: “Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him.” Those who followed were the few who were willing to pay the price of 8:18-22.
The Sea of Galilee was well-known for sudden, unpredictable, and violent storms. It is about thirteen miles long from north to south, and nearly seven miles wide at its widest, from west to east. To travel from Capernaum (8:5) at the north end of the sea to the region of the Gadarenes (8:28) at the southeast end would have meant crossing the longest distance possible across the lake. Matthew pointed out that waves were sweeping over the boat. The natural reaction of anyone in this situation would be to bail out the water, so the disciples must have been working feverishly.
That Jesus managed to sleep at such a time attests to his humanity. He was exhausted from a long day of ministry. Even though the events of Matthew 8-9 are drawn out of chronological order into a thematic pattern, Matthew was showing that the Messiah was constantly ministering with compassion and authority and that he grew tired from his work.
8:25. The disciples were probably angry that Jesus was not contributing to the bailing effort or exercising his power to help save their lives. To these men of little faith (8:26), Jesus was at least another pair of hands to help man the bailing buckets. The fact that they were so amazed in 8:27 suggests that their plea to save us (8:25) meant they were looking for his participation and possibly his leadership in averting the crisis. But they apparently did not expect him to exercise such incredible supernatural power. It was one thing to heal leprosy, but quite another to control nature's fury.
Still, the disciples had at least one necessary ingredient for true faith—an awareness of their helplessness. They despaired for their lives: We're going to drown! Their cry for Jesus' help was more desperation than faith that he would actually stop the storm. Clearly, they did not yet have a full grasp of the nature of Messiah's mission and his unfinished business.
8:26. It was significant that Jesus rebuked his disciples before he rebuked the winds and sea. If Jesus had any uncertainty about the outcome of the situation, he would have calmed the sea first, and then saved the lecture for afterward. By his conscious choice, he spoke while the boat was pitching wildly and the rain and wind were lashing violently and the boat continued to sink. This was a teachable moment. We can imagine Jesus lingering in the midst of this violent scene, holding the disciples' eyes for a moment to let his rebuke settle in, and then getting up from where he had been sleeping to calm the sea.
Jesus' rebuke of his disciples was justified because of the many miracles they had already witnessed that attested to his identity and power. But they were slow to catch on to the implications of what they had witnessed. Just as Jesus was surprised by the centurion's faith (8:10), he was also disappointed at his own disciples' lack of faith.
Jesus literally called his disciples “little-faith ones,” a single Greek adjective he used at times to rebuke his disciples (6:30; 14:31; 16:8; Luke 12:28). These “little-faith ones,” like you and me, needed to be “adding” or “supplying” to their faith the kind of growth that ensured their greater reward (2 Pet. 1:5-9).
Matthew did not record the actual words Jesus used to rebuke the winds and the sea, but the words are not important. What is important is the identity and authority of Jesus over the natural world. Matthew chose wording that heightened his absolute authority over nature. Literally, “a great calm happened.” The word galene, “a calm,” is used only here and in the parallel Gospel passages, Mark 4:39 and Luke 8:24. Jesus proved himself to be the God of all nature, praised as sovereign over the mighty seas in Psalms 65:7; 89:9; 107:23-32.
8:27. Three times in chapters 8-9, observers were amazed (thaumazo) at Jesus' miracles (8:27; 9:8, phobeo; 9:33), and the same verb is used of Jesus' response to the centurion's faith (8:10). People in the first century had a much greater respect for the forces of nature than we do today (even the winds and the sea revealed the disciples' awe at nature's power). This respect for nature's power is reflected by the numerous Old Testament passages that praise God for his control over them. To see the winds and the sea respond instantly to the word of Jesus was a major contribution to their developing understanding of Jesus.
What kind of man is this? The disciples were trying to pigeonhole Jesus. They were now being forced to add a new category to their mental list. Not only were the Pharisees impacted by Jesus' actions; Jesus' disciples were getting some major wake-up calls themselves.
The King's Authority over Spiritual Forces (8:28-34)SUPPORTING IDEA: Jesus exercises authority and compassion to free people from demon possession.
8:28. Previously, Jesus had conquered disease and nature. Now he conquered demons. We arrive with Jesus at the end of the journey that began in 8:18. Both Gadara and Gerasa (Mark 5:1) are cities of the Decapolis, south of the Sea of Galilee, but Gadara is only six miles southeast of the lake. It probably controlled the shoreline where these events happened. Gerasa was thirty miles southeast of the lake, but it was of greater importance than Gadara— thus Mark's use of its name. This entire region was predominantly Gentile, which explains the local residents' ability to raise pigs (8:31-33). Some Jews did live in the region.
Three things in this verse would have shocked the first-century Jewish reader. First, Jesus purposefully entered Gentile territory. Second, he went to a cemetery, thought to be unclean because of the dead bodies, and also thought to be inhabited by evil spirits. Third, he was met by two men possessed by demons. Just as first-century people treated natural forces with greater respect than we do, they also respected more highly the forces of the spirit world. The concept of going face-to-face with demons was frightful to the first-century reader. These two men were so violent and dangerous that people avoided them.
8:29. We learn several things about demons in this passage. They immediately recognized Jesus for who he was. They knew there would be an appointed time for their judgment by Christ (25:41; Jas. 2:19; 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6), and their eternal torture (25:41), but they clearly expected this to come much later.
Notice that only the demons spoke. The men probably had no ability to speak for themselves because of the power of the demons. This is an example of Jesus' compassion for those in need who were not able even to call out for help.
8:30-31. Mark's account revealed the large number of demons through the demons' own confession (Mark 5:9), but Matthew alluded to the number of demons by referring to the large herd of pigs they would inhabit. We learn at least three truths about these spirit beings from their request to go into the pigs. First, they either needed to inhabit a physical body or they found this preferable to existing on their own. Second, Jesus had the power to drive them out and leave them without a home if he so wished. Third, while demons are not physical beings, they seem to be bound by some of the same physical laws as physical beings (e.g., location has significance for them, and they can only be in one place at a time).
8:32. Jesus exercised his authority by forcing the demons to leave the men, and then he honored their request to enter the pigs. Notice once again the use of Jesus' word as the vehicle of his authority. Matthew recorded only a single, concise command: Go! That was enough to defeat the powerful beings of the spirit world.
8:33-34. What we have not been told until now is that there were witnesses to this event—the herdsmen in charge of the pigs. Their immediate response was to run into town and tell others what had happened. Matthew mentioned that their report included the exorcism of the demons. This should have been evidence that Jesus was a powerful being. When the whole town came back to Jesus, their request for him to leave may have been out of fear of his power. They may have been angry over the loss of their property and the pigs. In any case, they did not recognize the Messiah-King.
The King's Authority to Forgive (9:1-13)SUPPORTING IDEA: Jesus exercises authority and compassion to heal.
Although these next two related stories include a miracle, their central emphasis is on Jesus' authority to forgive sin, not primarily on the physical healing of the paralytic. Jesus' claim to have authority to forgive sins was validated by the healing of the paralytic, but also by the surrounding context of the series of miracles recorded in Matthew 8-9.
Notice that Matthew placed his own conversion at the heart of chapter 9. There was no outward, physical miracle recorded in 9:9-13. But Matthew's placement may indicate that he saw this as one of Jesus' greatest miracles— the rescue of a soul from the kingdom of darkness; the forgiveness of one of society's worst sinners, a traitorous tax collector (9:9).
9:1. Jesus and his disciples retraced the journey they had taken south across the Sea of Galilee (8:23-27). This time they traveled from the southern tip to the northern tip, to Capernaum, which was now Jesus' own town, his base of operations since 4:13. Note also that, in crossing the lake, Jesus was honoring the request of the Gentiles in 8:34.
9:2-3. The men who brought the paralytic to Jesus were the companions of the paralytic. (Matthew chose not to record the extent to which their faith took them; that is, tearing through the roof of the house, as Mark 2:3-4 and Luke 5:18-19 did.) All three Gospel writers note that Jesus saw their faith— not just the faith of the paralytic but the faith of the man's friends. This is significant today. We must realize that our faith or lack of faith has an impact upon the lives of others.
Jesus' words to the paralytic were probably even more surprising to the Jewish listeners and readers of the first century than they are to us today. We would expect his words to have something to do with the man's physical healing, but instead he started by talking about the man's spiritual healing. We might be surprised and puzzled, but the Jewish bystanders, especially the religious leaders (9:3), were shocked and offended. In claiming to do what only God could do, Jesus was blaspheming, in their opinion. To blaspheme was to insult God's name and honor by laying claim to an attribute or action that could be attributed to God alone.
The most fundamental tenet of the Jewish faith is found in Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” The Lord is a jealous God, unwilling to “yield [his] glory to another” (Isa. 48:11). The Jews would have been justified in their condemnation of Jesus, if not for the fact that he was indeed the Messiah-King. His miracles and authoritative teaching had already testified to this fact.
Jesus' compassion was evident in his encouraging words, Take heart, and in his reference to the man as son (literally, “child”). The man was probably feeling intimidated in the presence of the great teacher and feeling unworthy of the attention, due to the humiliation of his physical condition and the sin in his heart.
Jesus did not say, “Your sins will be forgiven” (future tense), which would amount only to an exhortation of hope, looking ahead to God's future forgiveness. Nor did he say, “Your sins have been forgiven” (past tense), separating the forgiveness from this encounter. Jesus confidently used the present tense, your sins are forgiven. Jesus was boldly proclaiming his word as the means of forgiveness. This was an incredible claim to deity.
The scribes' thoughts about Jesus were said to themselves, that is, probably only silent thoughts in their own minds. This sets the stage for our appreciation of Jesus' insight in 9:4. It also emphasizes the fact that sin is not only what comes out of us, but also what is within our minds and hearts. An attitude can be as much a sin as an action or a word. Attitudes will inevitably come out as actions and words. This was already happening at least through the scribes' nonverbal expression.
9:4. We need not assume that Jesus literally read the minds of these scribes. He certainly had the capability to use supernatural mental powers when it was appropriate. But Jesus temporarily gave up the exercise of his divine omniscience during his visit to earth (e.g., recall his surprise at the centurion's faith; 8:10). It is not necessary to be a mind reader to know a person's thoughts under the right circumstances. When a pro-life advocate is in the presence of a pro-choice advocate, or a staunch Democrat is with a staunch Republican, both know much of what is on the other's mind. Jesus, the God-Man, was an astute student of humankind. He had at least as much insight into people as the wisest and most perceptive people do today. He knew his opponents would be thinking hostile thoughts when he claimed the authority to forgive sins.
Jesus was justified in declaring the scribes' thoughts evil. To conclude that Jesus was blaspheming ignored the significance of his authenticating miracles. They had hardened their hearts against God's truth.
9:5. Having confronted their obstinate disbelief, Jesus prepared them for proof that he had authority to forgive sins and to heal paralysis. Neither spiritual healing nor physical healing is “easier” than the other. But physical healing is easier to authenticate than spiritual healing, because physical healing happens in the visible realm. Spiritual healing occurs in the invisible spirit realm. If Jesus could prove he had authority to heal physically, he could also prove that he had authority to heal spiritually—to forgive sins.
9:6-7. Jesus put this reasoning into words: But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. He proceeded, with the authority of his word, to reveal a visible truth—that he was able to heal the man's paralysis.
9:8. The crowd's reaction was awe and praise to God. There was no mistake that Jesus' authority came from God. What they praised God for was that he had given such authority to men (italics added). The crowd apparently saw Jesus as a God-ordained prophet, like Elijah or Elisha. They had not yet recognized Jesus' deity. They had heard the human side of the “Son of Man,” but they had not recognized the divine implications from Daniel 7:13-14.
God's glory is the physical, visible demonstration of his nature and character. To “praise” God is to make him visible or to make him known to others. This was what the crowd was doing in their praise. They proclaimed what they had witnessed of God's nature and character, that he might be made known more fully.
9:9. Again Matthew showed Jesus violating a cultural taboo by associating with a tax collector. The Roman Empire's practice was to recruit tax collectors from among the people they had conquered. These natives worked for the hated oppressor. This made them traitors and outcasts among their countrymen. But it was common practice for tax collectors to demand more from their countrymen than was actually due in order to line their own pockets. If the people refused to pay, the tax collector had the threat of the Roman military to back him up. Tax collectors, in general, were known for their greed and lack of conscience, so they were thought of as the lowest form of humanity.
Not only did Jesus speak to such a vile sinner, but he invited Matthew, a tax collector, to become one of his closest followers. Implied here is the ultimate in forgiveness and unconditional acceptance. Matthew's conscience must have been in torment for him to accept the Master's invitation to spiritual cleansing and restoration, giving up the wealth and privilege of his position. Again the Messiah-King manifested the compelling authority of his word—turning the worst of sinners into disciples.
This brief passage is Matthew's only mention of himself. It is natural that he should hold up—as an exhibit in his case for the identity of Jesus as Messiah—the key turning point of his own life. Matthew placed this account at the heart of Matthew 8-10, possibly as the crowning miracle authenticating the authority of the Messiah-King. This passage also links directly with 9:1-8, because it demonstrates the king's authority to forgive sins.
9:10-11. Jesus proceeded to violate the cultural standards of acceptable behavior even further by visiting Matthew's home and by eating with him and many of his tax collector friends as well as many other sinners. Eating together was the deepest form of social intimacy. Normally no “sinner” was welcome at a righteous man's table, and no “righteous” man would consider eating at a sinner's table. Jesus had no such misgivings; he displayed his unconditional acceptance and impartiality by participating in this meal.
The Pharisees did not address Jesus directly. Perhaps they were trying to use the disciples' limited understanding to drive a wedge between them and Jesus. Their use of the title teacher may have been sarcastic. It was generally assumed that such a righteous man as a Jewish teacher would refrain from associating with society's undesirables. Their question was mocking and critical.
9:12-13. When he became aware of the question, Jesus rose to confront the hypocrites and their self-righteousness with righteous indignation. Jesus portrayed himself here, in the context of so many healing miracles, as a doctor for the human spirit. He defended his lack of association with the Pharisees (the healthy) by alluding to the fact that they saw no need for spiritual healing in themselves. He was not implying that the Pharisees were righteous, but only that they saw themselves that way, and so were not open to receiving his healing (forgiveness). It is safe to read some irony into Jesus' use of the word healthy in referring to the Pharisees.
Jesus also defended his association with the tax collectors and sinners by their own self-awareness regarding their spiritual illness (sin) and their hunger for his healing (forgiveness).
Also implied in Jesus' words was an affirmation of the basic equality of all people, a truth the Pharisees failed to grasp. This basic lack of understanding is why they needed to go and learn the lesson of Hosea 6:6. This Old Testament passage does not belittle sacrifice, but it elevates right treatment of the poor above it. By quoting the Old Testament, which the Pharisees knew well, Jesus shamed his opponents by confronting their misunderstanding of the spirit of the Lord's Word. The word sacrifice here represents all the religious motions and rituals the Pharisees observed that were meaningless and empty. But accompanied by a heart after God, particularly a heart of mercy and compassion, righteous deeds take on positive significance before God (Matt. 6:1-18).
Compassion or mercy is an attitude toward a need that is compelled to take action to meet that need. A compassionate and merciful heart finds it impossible to remain neutral when it sees a need of any kind.
Jesus was not blind to the faults of the sinners with whom he dined, but his mercy caused him to withhold judgment. The Pharisees had no right to exercise judgment, since they were just as sinful themselves. They should have been the first to withhold judgment and accept the other sinners. But in their pride, they were unmerciful, demonstrating they had no grasp of Jesus' statements in 6:14-15.
Finally, Jesus clarified his “physician” analogy by saying, for I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Again, we can read some sarcasm and irony into his use of the word righteous when referring to the Pharisees. They were not truly righteous, but they saw themselves as such. Thus, they were not willing to accept his forgiveness and respond to his call. The sinners, on the other hand, were aware of their sin (Matt. 5:3, “poor in spirit”) and hungered for forgiveness. They responded to his call to true discipleship. Jesus' disciples were not perfect, but they accepted his forgiveness with humility and moved on toward maturity.
Celebrate! The King Is Finally Here! (9:14-17)SUPPORTING IDEA: As Messiah-King, Jesus claims the right to be treated as Israel's guest of honor.
In this passage, Jesus made another bold assertion that is supported by the context of validating miracles.
9:14. Both John the Baptizer's disciples and the Pharisees built fasting into their standard regimen, far beyond the requirements of Old Testament law. Although this was not bad in itself, they began to believe that any person who fell short of this standard of righteousness was less devout in his or her faith. Some Christians today do the same thing with “spiritual tests” of their own.
9:15. Jesus' response to John's disciples was that fasting while he—the bridegroom, the guest of honor—was present would be inappropriate. But a time would come when fasting among his followers would be appropriate— after he was taken from them. Jesus liked to use the analogy of a wedding or marriage to describe his relationship to his people (22:1-14; 25:1-13). This is a theme used elsewhere in both the Old and New Testaments (e.g., Hos. 2; Eph. 5:22-33; Rev. 19:7-9; 21:2,9; 22:17). Jesus is the bridegroom.
Jesus' statement about being taken from them is an early indication in Matthew that the king would not reign in this first coming. His choice of words, “taken from them” (also in Mark 2:20; Luke 5:35), provide a foreshadowing of his own suffering and death, as well as the loss and despair his followers would experience.
9:16. An old garment has shrunk after it has been worn a while. A new patch of cloth, when first washed, would shrink and pull away from the older cloth. Jesus was saying, “Something new and unusual is happening. A new era is dawning, and the old methods do not apply. They are inappropriate while I, the Messiah-King, am here.”
By the use of these miniparables (unshrunk cloth and new wineskins), Jesus was alerting his disciples to the fact that he was about to move further away from Israel as the chosen recipient of his message. Jesus indicated that his message of the new covenant was too fresh and vital to be attached to an old garment. His new wine of the new covenant was too vibrant and potent to be placed in an old wineskin that is rigid and inflexible. The situation demanded a new vessel. Matthew recorded Jesus hinting at his coming announcement (16:18) of a new approach. He will deposit his message into a new wineskin—the church.
9:17. Jesus used this second parable to underscore the same message as the old garment. When wine ferments, it gives off gasses that stretch the wineskins. The fresh leather can stretch and expand, but older leather has already stretched as much as it can. Fresh wine in old wineskins would burst the old leather. Jesus indicated that pharisaical Israel will not be able to handle Jesus' truth. Israel was too rigid and unresponsive to carry his message to the world. God would use the church to accomplish that goal.
The King's Authority over Life and Death (9:18-26)SUPPORTING IDEA: Jesus exercises authority and compassion to defeat death.
After a stretch of non-miracle narratives in Matthew 8-9, Matthew recorded a flurry of miracle activity in 9:18-34.
9:18-19. Not all religious leaders were hostile toward Jesus. We do not know the attitude of this synagogue ruler before his daughter's illness and death, but desperation can soften even the strongest critics. This man, like all the rest of the seekers in Matthew 8-9, was at the end of his resources. He had no place to turn except to the king. The official showed reverence for Jesus. Recognizing him as a prophet from God, the official knelt before him.
His request revealed great faith. To this point, Jesus had performed all of his healing miracles on people who were still living. This is the first instance in Matthew where he ministered to a dead person. The official's confidence in Jesus is evident in his bold assertion that Jesus' touch would bring her back to life.
Touching a dead body was considered the most defiling kind of uncleanness (Num. 19:11-22). Most religious leaders and teachers would have refused to come anywhere near the dead.
9:20-21. Even as Jesus made his way to touch a dead girl, he came into contact with another threat to his ritual purity. According to Old Testament law, a woman having her monthly menstrual period was unclean for seven days, and anyone who touched her would be unclean “till evening” (Lev. 15:19-33). This woman, with her continual bleeding, would have been considered continually unclean, and was probably a social outcast. She acted boldly to come into close contact with a revered teacher. But she also limited her action, touching the edge of his cloak to minimize the likelihood of making Jesus unclean. In fact, she did not even want Jesus to know she had put him at risk.
This woman was another of the desperate, helpless people cataloged in Matthew 8-9. She was willing to go beyond the bounds of culturally acceptable behavior to draw on help from outside herself.
9:22. Jesus detected her presence and touch. The fact that he had to turn around and look for the woman further emphasizes that she tried to do this secretly.
In Jesus' initial words of comfort, Take heart, daughter, notice the parallel to his words to the paralytic, Take heart, son (9:2). Rather than becoming angry at an unclean woman for touching him, Jesus showed compassion toward the woman's need and expressed affirmation for her faith. She displayed both components of faith: she recognized her helplessness and she went to the appropriate person for help.
The power of Jesus' touch and the power of his word are highlighted in this account. From that moment, with his declaration of her healing, she stopped bleeding. Both the touch and the word of Jesus were instrumental in her healing.
9:23-24. Having postponed a mission of healing to deal compassionately with the bleeding woman, Jesus resumed his walk to the synagogue official's home. When he entered the official's house and saw the flute players (hired as part of the mourning process) and the noisy crowd, Jesus spoke to the mourners as though they were not necessary. They laughed at him as though he was crazy. The girl was dead, but death was no obstacle to Jesus. Because the girl would be alive soon, Jesus told the mourners she was asleep. He would awaken her.
9:25. Jesus was not interested in masses of witnesses for this miracle. As usual, he seemed to be most interested in the training and education of his disciples (9:19). In taking the hand of the dead girl, Jesus would have been seen as defiling himself, according to Old Testament law. But instead of death defiling him, he defied death: she got up. This is one of the most powerful examples of Jesus ministering through touch.
9:26. This miracle serves as a climax for Matthew 8-9. None of the enemies Jesus had conquered so far in these two chapters (illness, demons, nature) had been as formidable as death. The resurrection of a child would have reminded people of similar miracles by Elijah (1 Kgs. 17:17-24) and Elisha (2 Kgs. 4:18-37), and the prophecies about the return of the prophet Elijah (Mal. 4:5-6). It is no wonder that news of this miracle spread through all that region. Jesus' growing notoriety set the stage for the first major grumblings of the Pharisees (9:34). Things were going to get a bit rougher.
The King's Authority Begins to Provoke the Pharisees (9:27-34)SUPPORTING IDEA: The contrast between Jesus' authority and that of counterfeits is so obvious that conflict between them must occur.
Healing of both the blind and the mute were given in Isaiah 35:5-6 as signs of the Lord's coming redemption. This and other Old Testament passages were in Matthew's mind as he chose these two miracles to report in quick succession at the end of Matthew 8-9 (cf. 11:2-6, Jesus' response to John's doubt). Messiah-King is here!
9:27. Jesus' reputation had spread throughout the region. In their helplessness and faith, two blind beggars persisted in crying out to him. There is irony in this verse. It was two blind men who recognized Jesus as the royal Son of David.
9:28-31. Jesus questioned their faith in his ability to heal them. The men were convinced of his power. Again Jesus ministered through touch, emphasizing their faith as the key to his ability and willingness to heal their blindness. According to your faith is not a statement of the quality of their faith (so much faith = so much sight) but of its presence.
Matthew recorded Jesus' warning to the men not to spread the news of their healing to others, much as he did with the leper in 8:4. However, with the leper account, we are not told whether the man obeyed Jesus; we can probably assume he did. In contrast, now that Jesus had established a sound basis of miracles to validate his identity, the men who had been blind could not contain themselves: they went out and spread the news about him all over that region. This heightened the stakes for Jesus' opponents, who began to voice their slander against Jesus just a few verses later (9:34).
9:32-33. Again Jesus faced the evil forces of the spirit world. But this time Matthew's purpose for recording the account, together with the preceding healing of the blind men, was probably as an allusion to the messianic ministry of Isaiah 35:5-6. And, as in 8:27, the witnesses were amazed. The crowd's words emphasized the uniqueness of Jesus and his actions: Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel. The advent of the Messiah-King was a one-time, historical event. And the growing momentum was beginning to force the opposition's hand.
9:34. The implications about Jesus' identity were plain to the Pharisees, who tried to explain away the miracles as Satan's work rather than God's. This verse represents the early grumblings of the religious leaders. This would soon grow into a full-blown conflict.
The King's Compassion for the Misguided Crowds (9:35-38)SUPPORTING IDEA: Jesus sees the peril of the misguided crowds and is moved to address their need through the ministry of his followers.
This short but powerful passage provides insight into Jesus' motivation for extending the training of his disciples to the next level (their public preaching) in chapter 10. Jesus' compassion, evident throughout chapters 8-9, came to a great crescendo. Jesus saw beyond the physical diseases to the deeper tragedy of the people's spiritual aimlessness.
9:35. This summary statement of Jesus' ministry amounts to a repetition of 4:23 (see commentary on 4:23).
9:36. As Jesus conducted his itinerant ministry, he saw many crowds. He felt compassion for their lack of spiritual shepherding and the presence of spiritual abuse. A shepherd feeds, comforts, heals, guides, and protects his sheep (Ezek. 34). But Israel's religious leaders were harassing and abandoning their sheep, leaving them harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. “Harassed” is from a verb meaning “to trouble, distress.” “Helpless” is from a verb meaning “to throw down.” The past tense used here implies the thoroughness of their oppression and its persistent effect on the people. These people were completely and perpetually discouraged.
Remember from 9:13 that compassion or mercy is an attitude toward a need that grows into action in an effort to meet the need. Here Matthew used a different word, whose root meaning is “intestines, bowels.” Jesus was physically moved by a stomach-wrenching empathy for the plight of his flock. He was literally sickened by the poor leadership of Israel's hypocritical religious leaders. We can read his words in 9:37-38 as an impassioned plea to his disciples, whom he proceeded to equip and commission to meet the people's need.
9:37-38. In these verses, Jesus' disciples begin to take a place of greater prominence in Matthew's narrative. Until now, Jesus had been training them primarily through their observations of his ministry, but his focus turned increasingly toward intensified teaching directed at them. These men and their spiritual offspring were Jesus' plan for continuing his ministry to a lost world. If he failed to prepare his workers, his ministry would die when he left. This is instructive to every spiritual leader today—mentor and multiply. Do not just “perform.”
Jesus' passion for the needs of the crowds caused him to ask his disciples to pray for workers to go out into the harvest. Christ's workers gain courage from his assertion that the harvest is plentiful. The hurting people whom he saw and whom we see all around us are like fruit ripe for the picking. Christians today seem to view non-Christians with fear, but Jesus saw them with compassion. And so should we. If we hold out the truth—Jesus himself— they will come to him, for they hunger for guidance.
The workers are few, said Jesus as he turned from the distressed masses to the dozen men around him. Our job is to pray fervently for more people to come and help, as we are moving boldly to be involved with the harvest.
MAIN IDEA REVIEW: Jesus demonstrates that he has absolute authority, exercised with compassion, proving himself to be Messiah.
Jesus can work miraculously in your life if you will depend on him—and sometimes he does this even if you do not.
PRINCIPLES
APPLICATIONS
In the world of physics, particle accelerators have allowed physicists to explore sub-atomic particle collisions under controlled conditions. This research has revealed most of the matter particles and force carriers we know today.
The particle accelerators physicists use, however, are massive. The Tevatron, the world's most powerful particle accelerator, at Fermilab National Laboratory for Research in Batavia, Illinois, uses an underground circle that is four miles in diameter.
A new kind of accelerator is on the drawing board. It is called a muon collider. The feasibility study for the prospective muon collider project was enormous. The executive summary for the project report was fifteen pages long, and the report itself totaled into hundred of pages. Why? Before tackling such a massive project, it was necessary to count the cost. To do the project would require the commitment of millions of dollars, many years, and the efforts and careers of thousands of trained personnel would be essential to its success. Such a project would be extremely demanding. Those involved would not have the option of a half-hearted allegiance to the mission. They would need to commit their time, expertise, and lives to ensure the success of the project.
Jesus asked his followers to count the cost of being a disciple. Following Jesus is not an easy road, for there would be hardships and persecution. Have you counted the cost? Are you committed to obediently following Jesus in spite of circumstances and consequences?
Merciful Father, thank you for Jesus, the Great Physician and friend of sinners. Fill me with his love and compassion that I might be a medium of his healing in the lives of those in need. Amen.
A. Increased “Demonic Activity” in the Gospels (8:28)
It is appropriate to mention the possible reasons for the heightened activity of demons in the Gospels. One explanation is that they had always been active, but Jesus' ministry revealed and thwarted their work. The satanic army knew the significance of Jesus' coming to earth. So they intensified their warfare during his ministry on earth.
B. Summary
We can consider Matthew 1-4 as prologue. Chapters 5-7 are the most powerful example of Jesus' authoritative teaching. Chapters 8-9 are the most powerful example of Jesus' authoritative actions. It is as though chapters 1-4 give us Jesus' calling card, but in chapters 5-9 we meet the real teacher. A good novel may start with a few pages of foundational material, then abruptly pick up and grab the reader's attention. This is the effect of Matthew's outline.
Chapters 8-9 serve as exhibits supporting Matthew's claim that Jesus was the Messiah. He showed this through his supernatural authority over every aspect of the natural, the supernatural, and the spiritual. These chapters also pave the way for Jesus' delegation of the same authority to his disciples in chapter 10.
A. INTRODUCTION
B. COMMENTARY
C. CONCLUSION
